The Art of Volunteering

Following midday prayer is lunch and that is just what I have come back from. Midday prayer has added a nice break in my day. The prayers are read out loud in Swahili, but I still enjoy. Like I have mentioned before, the pronunciation of Swahili words is easy. The formation of sentences and the meanings cause me to get stuck. So, I am able to read along with the prayers although I am unsure of the meaning of most of what I say. It’s from a prayer book so it can’t be that bad J

I have now switched my status from ‘relax and leisure’ (if you can call climbing a massive mountain leisure) to ‘active duty’. I have begun teaching, playing Frisbee and going to the debates of my students at Saint Benedict’s Secondary School. In addition, I have spoken with Mr. Baraka about teaching at the Trade School and I will be, but not until next week. I came to school this week ready to teach only to find the classrooms empty and kids just sitting around. After asking around I figured out that the first week back is for cleaning the environment.

I was surprised they needed the whole week to do so. I have stopped by each day because that is where I am able to receive a small bit of internet and have found that nobody is cleaning the environment. I have taken this as an excuse for not having (or wanting) to hold class. It can be frustrating for a guy like me who enjoys structure. It’s just another thing one must get used to when living in Africa. There is no set time on when things will start, even when those things are school.

Graphing the child's weight

I have put in time at the clinic as well. We held a children’s clinic this past week which was fun. I just walked in and asked the nearest lady if I could help. If Gertrude, the nurse I was speaking to, was Minnesotan her response would have been “Oh, you betcha!” They quickly put me to work. I was in the vaccinations room. The mothers would record the weight of their child on a card, I would take it and record the number on a graph so they know if their child is a healthy weight or not. After, we gave vaccinations for all sorts of things. Pneumonia, measles and rubella were the top diseases we vaccinated against. Others received some for tetanus, rotavirus and one for bronchitis. I have injected a vaccine into the arm and butt; however these were going into the side leg. I didn’t feel comfortable with injecting a squirming baby into the side of its leg so Gertrude did it this time. I recorded what child got what vaccination in a big book.

The clinic was packed. Hundreds of people were there and so we had a lot of screaming babies. When one starts the rest follow suit real quick, especially when they see the needle.

My return to Saint Benedict’s Secondary School was nice. I went to sports time and brought my Frisbee along. They were happy to see that I had returned. A few of the girls hugged me and this led to the other 300+ girls to giggle and comment something in Swahili. I guess that is what is to be expected, though. They are middle and high school age and so I am sure that some girls give other one’s crap for liking to hang around me.

Vaccine for Pneumonia

At sports time I noticed many of them were playing a game they call La-day. Two girls stand at different ends while one is in the middle. They throw a foam ball that is packed with cloth on the inside at the girl in the middle. Yeah, it sounds bad, but they love it. If the girl in the middle catches the ball then she gets to chuck it at one of the other ones. They thought it would be fun if I played and so I did. The countless hours of playing catch with my brother Thomas came in handy. I must have caught 90% of the balls thrown at me which led me to chuck it at the one’s doing the throwing. All of the girls were laughing so hard. They all ran away as fast as possible in order not to get hit. Like I said, the ball was really soft. It did not hurt to get hit, but it sure was fun to throw around. Winner winner chicken dinner.

I attended the debate my students hold each Friday. I enjoy going. The majority of volunteering is exactly what you think, working various jobs and helping out where it is needed, or, in other words, getting your hands dirty. However, I have found that there are other areas of volunteering that don’t necessarily require me to get involved, but matter just as much. The art of volunteering is finding out that there are a lot of great things that make up what a volunteer does.

One of those things is going to the debate. I have made it a requirement to just watch the debate rather than chime in with every argument I have to the topic being discussed. I want the students to debate the topic, not me. I go because I want to support my students and so I just sit in the back and watch for the hour or two. I think just being present sends a good message.

Another area that is similar to the debate is when I help someone set up a Skype account. It’s not the most intense or crucial work, but it matters nonetheless. I was at the Trade School trying to access the internet the other day when one of the sisters asked if I could help with setting up a skype account so she could speak with her friend in Namibia. I did so and we were able to get her online so she could call her friend. The happiness it brought her made the time I put into setting up the account worthwhile.

Sister Saima logging into Skype!

There was quite a funny piece to this story too. When it came time for her to select a password she needed help. I asked her what her favorite food was so we could go from there. She replied, “Bread! I love bread!” We both laughed. Hey, that’s fair, bread is pretty darn good. So, the word bread along with some numbers is now her password. I told her to just think of her favorite food if she ever forgot her password haha!

The other day a pipe in one of the rooms in the guesthouse came loose and began spraying a small amount of water. I noticed it, but it wasn’t until the morning which meant it had been spraying all night. It’s amazing how a small amount of water can accumulate so quickly. I always put a towel down by my door each night so I don’t have any creepy crawlers journeying into my room while I sleep. I was smart to do so. When I removed the towel in the morning it was sopping wet. I followed the trail of water to the other room. We were able to get somebody to come and help tighten the pipe. All is fixed now.

In the guest refectory there is a small TV that has only one channel on it. I tend not to pay attention to it most of the time considering the shows are all in Swahili and the acting is atrocious. No, really. My high school had a video club that produced a small segment for the school to watch each week and that was bad, but I would rather watch their acting than this. You would understand me better if you saw for yourself.

Though, luckily each evening at dinner there is a show called Isidingo that comes on. Christa, the older Austrian woman who has been here for quite a while, and I have kind of grown into it. The show is produced in South Africa and is in English. It’s one of those soap operas so the story line and plot move along very slowly. It has become a joke between Christa and I to guess what will happen on each episode and so it is fun to watch every once in a while.

The most recent book that I have been reading is titled George Washington by William Roscoe Thayer. I have been saying how I wanted to read a book on one of our past presidents and so I thought George would be a good one to start with. Though, I am guessing what drew me towards this particular book was my frugality. When I was young my parents constantly told me how important it was to save money and so I do. It just so happens that I hate spending it too. I am beginning to realize this may be why all of my past relationships have failed. Ha! J I never spent enough of that cash.

Oh well. Anyway, as you probably have guessed, this book was free and so I downloaded it. I didn’t expect much, but have found that I really enjoy it. It’s a wonderful biography on the first president who, I think, gets overlooked far too often. George was the man. The real MVP of America. I need to read more on other presidents, but Washington has to be one of my tops for now. George Washington was a great leader who cared about the country and its people and made sure to appoint the right people to office rather than just his friends. He wasn’t really feeling a second term, but the people liked him so much that they asked for him to go another four years. He did.

So, George Washington was pretty much the opposite of every candidate running for president in 2016.

Interesting fact: George was stricken with smallpox when he was a young man which left him with pox marks on his face for the remainder of his life. I don’t know about you, but I don’t see any pox marks on the one dollar bill, folks. All the painters and sculptors have omitted this detail from their art work.

Also, the American Revolutionary War’s main reason for taking place was not because of independence, at first. Great Britain was trying to oppress the freedom and rights of the colonies and they weren’t having any of it. King George III still rolls over in his grave thinking about the Stamp Act. Taxation without representation, come on man! Kings…fools, I tell ya.

However, after a while they thought it may be best to secede and become independent. Most people were on board, but there were some loyalist still around. Guess where they lived? New flippin’ York. This doesn’t affect my view on the state of New York, just their baseball team. Add one more reason to hate the Yankees. Their jerseys might as well be red coats!

For living in the 1700’s there is a decent amount of documentation on George Washington. However, it makes me think about how the biographies of presidents from the current generation will look. “And here is a selfie of President Anderson when s/he was in the seventh grade.”

Alright, that is enough about George. The next two books I have queued up and ready to go are Apollo by Catherine Cox and Charles Murray and Collected Poems by Dylan Thomas. As you know, Apollo is about the space missions and America’s race to the moon. It looks really good. In addition to Apollo my grandfather Tom sent me a book titled Collected Poems by Dylan Thomas. A famous poet, Dylan Thomas is able to create great imagery through the language he uses. I look forward to reading more!

For all of my Game of Thrones fans!

In other news, gas and oil has been found in Tanzania and therefore a number of companies are coming over to start collecting. Tanzania is rich in natural resources, but it seems they lack the knowledge on how to collect. It is a bit sad because some of the resources that are going to be gathered reside inside the national parks. There goes some more of our beautiful earth.

The temperatures are still high in comparison to Minnesota, but winter is coming. It isn’t nearly as hot as it used to be. A sister who is visiting from Namibia had visited the U.S. before and so I asked where she had stayed. She told me Duluth, Minnesota. I laughed. No way. I told her I am from Minnesota and she couldn’t believe it. She said she doesn’t like the snow. I told her I think Tanzania is too hot. J We all have our preferences.

Sound the hallelujah chorus, yesterday I received my passport back from Fr. Novatus. His friend from immigration was able to take it to the border of Mozambique and get it stamped. I will be able to stay in country longer and leave when I must. All is well.

To conclude, the clinic just had two women give birth. I was told both babies are girls. I responded to the nurse, “That’s wonderful; the world is a better place now!”

Thanks for reading!